Enjoy your tour of the UK Kim. Sorry we're no longer living there and don't have the chance to meetup. There are some great beautiful historic places to visit and the scenery is gorgeous (old castles such as Conwy, are fantastic).
Most countries have bad places and good places. The west seems to be going through a suicidal experiment of not protecting citizens from criminals as they once did, so unless you are fortunate to live in a more affluent area you are more likely to be subjected to the stress of having to live with the threats that inevitably result from the misguided policies.
Canada has just had a perfect example of what happens when the criminal justice system makes excuses for people and is simply a revolving door. It is not helping the people the policies pretend to be supporting - I'm sure minority communities would rather the criminal elements are removed, rather than being free to prey on them.